Two people were detained today, after they entered the Lok Sabha chamber, leapt onto the benches and used smoke canisters, as the Winter Session of the Parliament was on.
Two others were detained from outside for protesting and setting of smoke canisters as well.
In the live proceedings of the ‘Zero Hour’ of the Parliament, one person is seen leaping on the benches while the other dangles from the visitor gallery and sprays smoke forcing all the parliamentarians to flee. The House was adjourned immediately after.
Both persons inside the chambers were carrying gas canisters, and the house was filled with yellow smoke.
The two people were overpowered by the Lok Sabha members and handed to the security.
‘It was only after the second person jumped that I realised it was a security breach… the gas could have been poisonous,’ Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, calling for a thorough probe.
Chidambaram told NDTV he initially thought ‘somebody had fallen down from the visitors’ gallery.’
#WATCH | Delhi: Two protestors, a man and a woman have been detained by Police in front of Transport Bhawan who were protesting with colour smoke. The incident took place outside the Parliament: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/EZAdULMliz
— ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2023
‘All those who come here – be it visitors or reporters – they don’t carry tags. So, I think the government should pay attention to this. I think this is complete security lapse. Anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha,’ Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav said.
The probe has been handed over to anti-terror unit special cell of the Delhi Police.
Law enforcement arrived at the Parliament and are questioning the protesters.
The other two people outside, a man and a woman identified as Neelam (42) and Amol Shinde (25), were detained in front of Transport Bhawan, police officials said, adding that a probe is underway.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla addressed the House and said, ‘ Both of them have been nabbed and the materials with them have also been seized. The two people outside the Parliament have also been arrested by Police…’
The Speaker also added the smoke ‘was of ordinary kind,’ as per the preliminary investigation.
The incident took place when the nation marked the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, when terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits attacked the Parliament complex, killing nine people.
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